Media Alert
SPELMAN COLLEGE WOMEN'S RESEARCH AND RESOURCE CENTER CELEBRATES SCHOLARLY PAPERS OF ACTIVIST, AUTHOR, POET AUDRE LORDE
ATLANTA (Sept. 5, 2008) Approximately 40 linear feet of the collected writings and personal artifacts of critically acclaimed activist, author, essayist, poet Audre Lorde will be celebrated by scholars, students and community activists on Friday, Sept. 12, at Spelman College. Hosted by the Women’s Research and Resource Center at 4 p.m. in the Cosby Academic Center Auditorium, “Breaking the Silence: The Audre Lorde Project” this is the culminating event of Phase I of the project. The collection is the most comprehensive documentation of Lorde's life and work, and select pieces in the collection will be on display during this culminating event, which is free and open to the public.
Phase I of the Audre Lorde Project included the processing of the Lorde papers and conversion of the documents into a digital format. Housed in the Spelman College Archives in the Cosby Academic Center, the Lorde papers will be available for public viewing by appointment.
The collected writings consist of speeches, manuscripts, personal letters, journals, published and unpublished poems, plays and essays written by Lorde.
The culminating event will feature Gloria Joseph, who will reflect on Lorde’s legacy, especially the impact she had on Black feminist activism in St. Croix; Spelman archivist Taronda Spencer, C’80, and Brenda Banks, C’71, project archivist, will discuss the preservation process and highlight significant pieces in the collection that are available for public access.
The acquisition of the Lorde papers was made possible by a $145,000 grant from the Michigan-based Arcus Foundation, one of the nation’s leading gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender charity organizations.
The Lorde papers will be registered through national databases that will direct researchers to the Spelman College archives, which houses the collection. Individuals will be able to schedule appointments to visit the archives and review the collection.
In addition to the Friday unveiling of the Lorde collection, on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 5:30 p.m., the Women’s Center will host a panel discussion titled “From Margin to Center: A Conversation with Four Pioneers” in the auditorium of the Cosby Academic Center. Moderated by Beverly Guy-Sheftall Ph. D., founding director of the Women’s Center, featured panelists will include Gloria Steinem, activist, author and founder of Ms. magazine; Johnnetta B. Cole, president emerita of Spelman College and Bennett College for Women and chair of the board of the JBC Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute; Bernice Johnson Reagon C’70, cultural historian, activist and founder of the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock; and Diana C. Walsh, president emerita of Wellesley College. This event serves to set the stage for the metro-Atlanta launch of a $2,000,000 fund-raising effort to establish an endowment for the Women’s Center.
THE WOMEN’S CENTER:
The Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College is recognized in the academy and beyond as a distinctive and vital site for scholarship, faculty and curriculum development, student leadership development and advocacy surrounding women of African descent in the United States and around the globe. Established in 1981, the Women’s Center coordinated the Comparative Women’s Studies program, the Toni Cade Bambara Scholars/Writers/Activists Collective, the Digital Moving Image Salon, the Spelman Archives, and the Audre Lorde Black Lesbian Feminist Project.
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Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in
the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top
75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta,
Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding
alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman;
U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and
Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the
full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the
student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman
students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than
2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more
information regarding Spelman College, visit: www.spelman.edu.
